First 5 R.E.M. Releases

[InTheIttaBenaHotSun]

Getting away from the Portal, NIL, Transfer bullsheet for a minute. This thread will only apply to a select group on here but which of the first 5 (Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant) is your favorite?

I gotta go with Chronic Town 1st and Reckoning 2nd.

 

[BobSacamano]

I first heard Radio Free Europe on WMSB in 1983 at State and bought Murmur the next day. They are all great albums. My top 2 are Fables and Reckoning. Although I have read that the band did not like Lifes Rich pageant, I rather enjoy it.

 

[Lettuce]

Getting away from the Portal, NIL, Transfer bullsheet for a minute. This thread will only apply to a select group on here but which of the first 5 (Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant) is your favorite?

I gotta go with Chronic Town 1st and Reckoning 2nd.

Getting away from the Portal, NIL, Transfer bullsheet for a minute. This thread will only apply to a select group on here but which of the first 5 (Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant) is your favorite?

I gotta go with Chronic Town 1st and Reckoning 2nd.

I know this isn’t in your criteria but I bought a copy of Monster at a truck stop for 4.99$ about 6 years back…..I think I played it for 3/4 straight months. I need to check out the older stuff for sure.

I was told, they were the Dave Mathew’s of the 80’s amongst college students. I’ve always liked them

 

[Double Dawg]

They were awesome before you could understand what Michael Stipe was actually singing.

 

[SchrodingersDawg]

I have a vague memory of seeing them perform on frat row in the early 80s. I have a lot of vague memories from that time period though so it might not have actually happened. It could have been another band that somebody told me was REM.

 

[Chesusdog]

Automatic for the People and Monster are brilliant ******* albums.

 

[WilCoDawg]

Automatic for the People and Monster are brilliant ******* albums.

If we’re discussing any of their albums and you don’t mention OUT OF TIME, you’re disqualified from further credibility.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

They were awesome before you could understand what Michael Stipe was actually singing.

^^^hates Orange Crush

 

[Darryl Steight]

Getting away from the Portal, NIL, Transfer bullsheet for a minute. This thread will only apply to a select group on here but which of the first 5 (Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant) is your favorite?

I gotta go with Chronic Town 1st and Reckoning 2nd.

Gah, they all have great songs on them (Driver 8, Rockville, etc.) and anyone growing up in the 80's probably was like me and thought each one was the best at different times... But I have to agree, Chronic Town for consistently great songs. Every song. Then I'd put LRP next.

Shout out to Dead Letter Office too, which I think was right after the albums you included. Bunch of B sides and covers and whatnot that I love, and it actually came with Chronic Town as a bonus.

 

[Darryl Steight]

Automatic for the People and Monster are brilliant ******* albums.

He was talking early REM. I like all their 'newer' stuff like these too.

 

[Crazy Cotton]

Getting away from the Portal, NIL, Transfer bullsheet for a minute. This thread will only apply to a select group on here but which of the first 5 (Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant) is your favorite?

I gotta go with Chronic Town 1st and Reckoning 2nd.

Automatic for the People feels like the band at the height of their powers. Those early ones are great as well. For early X-Gens, they were a great alternative to the top-40 tripe of the time. They came to W.C. Dons at least once, saw them in Jackson in probably 1986 at the Jackson City Auditorium because I wanted to see Fetching Bones who opened the show, left a fan. The TV commercials for the jackson show were of Michael Stipe breaking a wine glass with his voice (that high note from Can't get there from Here). Jackson had a pretty good music scene in the 80s, pulled a lot of bands from Georgia and the Carolinas.

 

[BrunswickDawg]

I've been a huge REM fan since around '85. I'll always be partial to Fables since it was the first I heard, but Chronic Town is definitely number 2 of that list.

Since we are adding others to the list - I got a bootleg cassette in '87 of a live show in '81 that was called "So Much Younger Then". Had "Narrator for Jacque Cousteau", and a bunch of early songs that never made albums. The energy and rawness was awesome.

 

[Double Dawg]

^^^hates Orange Crush

Like fingernails on a chalkboard.

 

[ugabully]

Going by the list in the OP, I'd choose Lifes Rich Pageant because that's when I entered their fandom chronologically. I remain kind of partial to Document for similar reasons.

I attended UGA in the very late 80s and early 90s, so Out of Time, Automatic for the People are sort of soundtrack to my college memories, with some grunge from that era thrown in. That was still in the window when you would actually see Michael Stipe around town.

Since I tend to stream music now, I don't listen to whole albums as much, and I'll even forget what early songs are on which album. Maybe I need to fix that.

 

[eckie1]

Getting away from the Portal, NIL, Transfer bullsheet for a minute. This thread will only apply to a select group on here but which of the first 5 (Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant) is your favorite?

I gotta go with Chronic Town 1st and Reckoning 2nd.

I always thought the album cover art of
Reconstruction of the Fables lent itself to also say it could be “Fables of the Reconstruction”.

Good album, nonetheless.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

They were awesome before you could understand what Michael Stipe was actually singing.

this is a fact, but it also coincided with Stipes coming out of the closet and getting in his first gay relationship --- no judgement, but it definitely changed their music and their trajectory.
I also think the band's producers and agents were trying to broaden their appeal in order to sell more records at that time. Which they damn-sure did.
But those first few albums were a tinguvbeauty! Pull out those vinyls often. They cheer me right the 17 up after reading about all this NIL/portal ****.

Murmur Reckoning Chronic my top 3 in that order.

 

[lazlow]

Getting away from the Portal, NIL, Transfer bullsheet for a minute. This thread will only apply to a select group on here but which of the first 5 (Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant) is your favorite?

I gotta go with Chronic Town 1st and Reckoning 2nd.

Fables

 

[InTheIttaBenaHotSun]

Automatic for the People feels like the band at the height of their powers. Those early ones are great as well. For early X-Gens, they were a great alternative to the top-40 tripe of the time. They came to W.C. Dons at least once, saw them in Jackson in probably 1986 at the Jackson City Auditorium because I wanted to see Fetching Bones who opened the show, left a fan. The TV commercials for the jackson show were of Michael Stipe breaking a wine glass with his voice (that high note from Can't get there from Here). Jackson had a pretty good music scene in the 80s, pulled a lot of bands from Georgia and the Carolinas.

I was at the '86 show. Remember being surprised at how small the crowd was....Great show though. Much better than their show at the Sad Pad 2 or 3 yrs later.

 

[vandaldawg]

Getting away from the Portal, NIL, Transfer bullsheet for a minute. This thread will only apply to a select group on here but which of the first 5 (Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant) is your favorite?

I gotta go with Chronic Town 1st and Reckoning 2nd.

Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning.

 

[BrunswickDawg]

I was at the '86 show. Remember being surprised at how small the crowd was....Great show though. Much better than their show at the Sad Pad 2 or 3 yrs later.

One great thing about growing up in the Metro ATL - exposure to incredible music. First show for REM was at the Fox, Thanksgiving of '87, and saw them 4 more times before they retired including an impromptu show at the 40 Watt in Athens. Great memories!

 

[Desert Dog]

I made a playlist titled “Good REM” and it’s Chronic Town through Document. Reckoning is my favorite album and my roommate at State had a concert bootleg that was awesome!